A night worth going out for
by MissKluck
Summary: Neither Sakura nor Sasuke wanted to go out that night, but with such 'persuasive' friends they had no other options but to go. A little late, but for day 7 of SSmonth. Sasusaku. One-shot.


Since I've started working only yesterday I've had to go much earlier to bed and so didn't get to finish this, but since I don't have anything for today I got to finish this after all. I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

**A night worth going out for **

"But pleeeeeeaaaase, forehead! You haven't been out of that office of your in AGES!" A longhaired blonde whined at her pink haired friend. They were eating lunch outside a late Friday morning as Ino had finally managed to drag Sakura out of her office and busy schedule.

"Don't exaggerate, pig," Sakura huffed. "I was out yesterday."

"Yeah, to go buy coffee at the store, such an exciting travel," Ino scoffed.

Sakura blushed. It was true that she hadn't been much out of the hospital and her apartment, but it had been such a busy time after the war was over. So many had been wounded, some almost dead, and when the village already had been in pieces, it had been hard work. They had managed it in the end, but there was still so much work still to be done and patients to be tended to. "Well, there has been a lot to do, things have been busy here at the hospital, especially since I'm now in charge and-"

"Pft, that's still no excuse to stay locked inside all day forehead! Tonight you're coming out with me and the girls whether you like it or not! You gotta go out and experience life while you're still young!" Ino exclaimed, throwing the pinkette a mischievous grin.

"But I-"

"No but's! I've already organized it with the others so we're definitely going to have some fun tonight!" Ino continued to grin.

"O-others?" Sakura was already getting a bad feeling. "What others?"

"Oh, you know, just the other boys and girls from our teams," Ino winked. Sakura's feeling just got worse. Just what was it Ino was planning?

* * *

"Hey Sasuke-teme!" Naruto came bursting into Sasuke's apartment. He was living there both for the probation to be easier and for the Uchiha compound to be rebuilt. "Sasuke-teme! You're gonna come with me to town tonight!"

Sasuke, who had just been making some tomatoes after training, looked up from behind the counter with an apathetic expression.

"Ahahahah, Sasuke-teme! Have you become a housewife already?!" Naruto burst into laughing. "Has returning to Konoha tamed you so much already?! Hahahaha!"

Sasuke sent Naruto a glare but otherwise didn't care much for what he said. He could always punch Naruto through some trees and a rock or three in their sparring later. Maybe an ambush would do. Chopping up the tomatoes Sasuke already thought about what techniques he could use to ambush Naruto later on when Naruto chose to speak again, laughter only subsiding a little before coming back full on. "You didn't even need Sakura-chan to tame you 'cause you've done it so good already!" He continued to laugh of his own comment as Sasuke almost cut himself in shock.

"Naruto, what the heck do you think you're doing?!" Sasuke's glare intensified. "I purposefully ignored you bursting into my house since you always do that anyways, but saying such things and insulting the Uchiha name?! Do you want a chidori up your ass?!" Sasuke stepped away from the counter, his right arm already starting to light up in a familiar blue-white light.

"Pft, I'm not insulting it, I'm just pointing out that Uchiha's can do other things too. And you don't even need Sakura-chan to figure it out! Of course she'll probably do an even better job, but I guess that just comes as it comes! And besides, you'll get some really strong and beautiful babies that's for sure! Even though the father might not be that much," Naruto grinned, oblivious to the darkening cloud around the young Uchiha.

"Naruto! Shut up!" Onyx eyes slowly changed into red, dark commas spinning wildly.

Sasuke's yell, along with the familiar sound of the chirping of a thousand birds, seemed to bring the blonde knucklehead back to his senses. "N-now, calm down teme! You know I was only joking! Besides, Sakura-chan's been far too busy lately to get you into place, which is why you should come out with me and the others tonight!" Naruto exclaimed, grinning again despite the fact that the fearful Uchiha was still glaring heatedly at him, though with ears redder than normal.

After a moment longer, the sound of chirping birds slowly subsided along with the intense light. "Hn," Sasuke huffed, eyes returning back to black. "And why would I want to do that?"

"Because Ino said Sakura-chan is coming, which means that we can finally get together all of us! Besides, you don't have another option! Ino can be quite persuasive if she wants to, and she said she might slip on where you live to the you-know-who's."

"So I am to be blackmailed into going out tonight because Ino might slip out information about me to the stupid part of the female population still worshipping me for my looks and power?"

"Pretty much yeah," Naruto shrugged his shoulders while Sasuke resisted the urge to facepalm. "Relax, Sasuke-teme, it'll be fun!" Naruto came and placed his arm around Sasuke's shoulder and Sasuke found that he already couldn't wait for this night to be over.

* * *

Some hours later one pink haired female and her blonde friend could be found in said pinkette's apartment. The pink haired girl watching her own image nervously in a large mirror while her friend stood beside her grinning. "I-I don't really know about this, Ino," Sakura muttered, looking down on the dress she had borrowed Ino.

"Nonsense! There's no going back now forehead, besides, you look really beautiful."

"You sure?"

"Yup, and sexy!" Ino winked at her in the mirror.

Sakura hugged herself, not sure how to feel. The dress was not too short, but not too long either, showing off her legs. It was cream coloured and strapless, making Sakura uncertain if it would remain where it was now all night. "I-I don't know about this, Ino. Maybe it's better if I just stay home, you girls have fun." Sakura turned around to go back to the bathroom where she'd changed previously.

"Oh no you don't!" Ino grabbed Sakura's arm, yanking her back. "You're coming out with us now whether you like it or not forehead. You can't just stay inside all your life. What about your future then? How are you supposed to find Mr. Right if you just evade all social activities all your life, hm? At this rate you're going to end up all alone like your mentor. And even she had Dan while you have no one!"

Sakura's eyes widened and she looked off to the side, gazing sadly at the nice pair of shoes standing some meters away. "H-hey, forehead, you know I don't mean it like that," Ino continued, seeing she might have gone a little too far. "But you can't just keep on evading him all your life now can you? Besides he isn't the only man out there, there's plenty of fish in the sea y'know, you just gotta know where to go to find the good stuff!"

"The 'good stuff'?" Sakura shot her friend a skeptic glance.

"You know what I mean, forehead, so don't go using that as another excuse to get out of this. We're going and that's that! Now put on those shoes we bought, get your purse and let's go!" Ino fist pumped into the air, grinning happily while Sakura sighed and hung her head. A few minutes later and the girls were out the door, heading over to meet up with Hinata and Tenten by the corner. They then headed down to one of the new places that had been built up after the war. Ino had said something about the boys meeting them there, insisting upon the fact that they would probably already have arrived.

But now, half an hour later Sakura still hadn't seen anything to the boys, making her start to worry a little. She had already been nervous because this would be the first time in quite a while that she would be seeing Sasuke again. They had actually talked a little right after the war, they having been assigned at the same place one day for rebuilding and miraculously enough they had ended up talking. Things were still a little tense between them, but not as much as it had been at the immediate end of the war. Again, that didn't mean that Sakura wasn't nervous of seeing Sasuke, because she really was. She was still deeply in love with him and often wondered how to act around him, but she had hoped that coming together with all the rest of Konoha 11 might help. Now though, it seemed like none of that would happen.

Sakura tried to ignore all of this, pushing it to the back of her mind as she tried to enjoy the other girls' company. They had been having some nice conversations, talking about what they where doing, what they planned on doing and just generally checking up on each other. It had been a while since all the girls had been together like this after all. Both Ino and Tenten were drinking, not much, but enough to make them each a little tipsy. Sakura herself wasn't quite sure as she might be called into the hospital as she often seemed to be these days and Hinata didn't seem to want any alcohol tonight either. The place they were in was really large and already it was packed with people, making Sakura quietly hope that the boys just hadn't found them through the crowd yet. It was almost impossible to keep an eye on the door, both since people kept on coming and going, but also since there were already a lot of people out dancing, making it hard to actually see the main entrance.

Then the conversation started to turn towards boys, Ino of course being the one to talk the most. She got Hinata to blush within the first minute of the new topic, even though that wasn't exactly hard in itself. Ino wouldn't stop asking about how Naruto was doing, how far Hinata had gotten with him and, of course, for juicy details. Hinata ended up as red as a tomato, stammering out quiet answers while constantly looking over her shoulder in case the blonde haired Uzumaki would appear. Ino kept up the drill, interrogating Tenten afterwards about any new 'meat' as she called it before she finally turned to Sakura.

"You already know it," Sakura cut Ino off before she even had a chance to open her mouth.

"Yeah, I do," Ino said, for a moment looking sympathetic at her best friend. Then she got a glint in her eye, grinning mischievously. "Which is why you, my dearest forehead, need to meet some new people. And luckily for you I know the best way to do so! C'mon, let's go dance girls!" She dragged a stuttering Sakura to her feet, accompanied by a grinning Tenten and an uncertain Hinata.

Suddenly Sakura was out on the dance floor with the others, awkwardly dancing, wondering what she was doing there. Ino had suddenly gotten a guy for each of them, it seemed that the boys weren't scared despite her monster strength. Dang it. She smiled nervously at the guy, trying not to get too close to him despite his advances. He grinned back at her, clearly pretty intoxicated by alcohol despite how early it was. Or was it that early anymore? Sakura wasn't sure as Ino had persuaded her into leaving her watch at home. Hinata too seemed a little uncomfortable with the guy she was dancing with, but it seemed that Tenten was right by her with the guy Ino had paired her up with.

The guy Sakura was dancing with wasn't good nor bad looking, quite ordinary actually. He was kind of cute, but when Sakura couldn't help but compare all the guys she had seen tonight with Sasuke, the other boys never had a chance, at least not to her. As the guy made another advance Sakura felt that she needed a break. She was hot, sweaty and uncomfortable, not wanting to slap someone needlessly but she knew that if she didn't go away for a short while to gather her thoughts then she would surely punch someone, probably the guy she was dancing with.

Sakura politely excused herself, carefully evading the guy trying to grab for her and she quickly slipped out of the dancing crowd. She got over to where they had sat previously only to discover that someone else, a boy and a girl, was now sitting there while making out. 'Well I'm clearly interrupting something here,' Sakura thought, taking a turnabout away from the table, wondering where she would go now. Maybe it was best to just slip outside for a little moment, she thought as she started to make her way back and towards the main entrance. She got halfway before she saw the guy she had danced with before looking for her by the entrance and it seemed that he spotted her as he waved and started to make his way towards her.

Sakura didn't want to deal with him again so soon though as she had slipped away because she needed a break and so she turned around again and started towards the back of the local.

What Sakura didn't know was that the boys from Konoha 11 arrived just then and Ino who had been talking to someone by the entrance saw them at once.

"Hey," she greeted. Ino quickly skimmed them over and saw that one was missing. She turned to Naruto, "Where's Sasuke-kun? Did the plan fail? Didn't you manage to drag him with you despite my warning?"

"Oh, no no, it's just that since Sasuke-teme was chased by fangirls all the way here he's taking the backdoor so he can sneak in instead. At least that's what he said," Naruto looked towards the back. "Also that's the reason why we're late. It seems teme is still really popular with the girls, maybe that was why he didn't want to go out." Naruto grinned.

"Well hopefully he'll get here soon," Ino sighed. "I finally got forehead with me out too, you know what we're going to do then, right?" Ino got a mischievous glint in her eyes again, making Naruto back away slightly in fear. He, for one, was happy that it wasn't him Ino planned to play her matchmaking tricks on.

Stupid fangirls chasing him all over Konoha. He hadn't even wanted to go out, but then been blackmailed into doing so to avoid fangirls only to be attacked by them anyways so what was even the point? Still, Sasuke guessed he at least had to go into that pulsating thing of a house and show himself so that Ino couldn't use him not being there against him. He silently made his way to where Naruto said had been the backdoor, constantly looking behind him as not to be followed by any admirers. Sasuke didn't pay enough attention to where he walked then, which resulted in him walking straight into someone else, even though it was a dark side street and there hadn't been anyone there just some seconds ago.

"Hn, sorry," Sasuke had quickly muttered, not even caring to look at the person as he kept on looking behind him.

"Ah, I'm so sorry, I- Sasuke-kun?" A familiar voice gasped.

Dang it, was it yet another fangirl? Sasuke prepared to get away, ignoring the fact that Ino probably would send half of Konoha to his apartment the next day, when he realized something. The voice had been familiar. Sasuke looked down, first now noticing the person he had bumped into. Really, with that hair colour he normally should have noticed her right away, maybe he really was getting too used to being back? But he hadn't even been there that long, and besides the town was not like it had once been. Was it seeing Sakura he was getting used to? He pushed all the annoying thoughts to the back of his head as he nodded his head, acknowledging her blushing presence.

"Sakura," he breathed out, looking at the still confused pinkette in front of him.

"H-hey Sasuke-kun," she replied almost shyly, just staring at him, taking in his entire being, clothes and all. Sasuke seemed to do the same, something akin to surprise still in his eyes as both teens just stood there staring at each other for several minutes. Then they both seemed to realize what they were doing, Sakura hurriedly looking off to the side with burning cheeks. Was Sasuke checking her out just now? What?

Seeing her reaction Sasuke smirked. So he did still have some power over her after all.

"Why aren't you inside?" Sasuke asked, surprising the pink haired girl yet again.

"Oh, well I- um, it got a little too intense for me in there," Sakura admitted almost sheepishly. "Ino hooked me up, or at least tried to hook me up with this guy and he was already drunk before we started dancing. And then as we danced he couldn't stop clinging and trying to place his hands on places, well indecent," Sakura blushed embarrassed looking away and not noticing the narrowing of Sasuke's eyes. "So yeah I just ended up coming out here to escape him. I planned on just leaving really," she looked around sheepishly, not meeting Sasuke's eyes as she wondered what she had even thought of coming out tonight.

If Sakura had still kept eye contact with Sasuke she would have noticed the flash of jealousy flash across his face. He then composed himself, hiding his feelings behind his usual mask of apathy. "But what are you doing here, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, trying to get the topic over to something else. "Shouldn't you be in there?" She pointed on the building behind her that she had just come out from mere minutes ago, "I don't want to hinder you from having fun," she smiled uncertainly up at him, shuffling a little on her feet.

"You mean being attacked by the dobe for being late and then Ino blackmailing me into do some more stupid stuff?" Sasuke looked unconvinced at her.

"Wait what?" Sakura watched him confused. "So, you're not here because you wanted to? It's just Ino who- oh" Ino's intention then suddenly went up for Sakura and she hung her head in embarrassment again. "I see, I'm sorry Sasuke-kun. You're clearly not having fun and with Ino hanging over you you probably won't get to do that either. You know what, why don't I go talk to Ino about it? You just go home, her intentions and plans are always stupid anyways." She sent Sasuke a small smile and was just about to turn around to walk inside again when a strong arm took hold of her. "Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke didn't really know why he did it, but part of him was just really opposed to Sakura going into that place again, especially if there was a boy there bugging her. He also found himself slightly curious as to what this intention or plan of Ino's was, at least since it seemed Sakura was really embarrassed by it.

"What intention?" he asked, watching Sakura redden even more under his gaze.

"Well, I'm not quite sure but I think she wanted us to end up together or something, trying to make you jealous because I danced with someone else in front of you," she responded meekly, not daring to look up. "O-of course that would never happen as you don't feel like that towards me, and besides, it's okay, I'm not dancing with that drunk guy anymore anyways."

Sasuke was about to say something when another boy came walking out of the backdoor of the club. He was tall, lean and muscular, not so bad looking, but totally drunk. He stumbled slightly as he walked over to them. "There ya are," he slurred, referring to Sakura. "C'mon honey, we didn't get to finish our dance." He waggled his eyes, giving her a lewd look.

Sakura, finally fed up with both Ino's scheming and the drunk guy, no longer had anything hindering her from punching said guy, sat out to do just that only to be stopped by a hand. "Sasuke-kun?" She looked back at him; surprised he had even done anything.

"I can take care of him," he grunted, eyes narrowing on the boy before him.

"I am perfectly capable of protecting myself from perverts thanks," Sakura protested, trying to step around Sasuke again.

"We wouldn't want that pretty dress of yours sullied with blood though, would we?" Sasuke smirked.

"W-what?" Sakura was clearly confused with that was happening.

"Hey, I'm here for the babe, get your stupid hands away from my girl and outta my sight," the drunk boy threatened, flexing his muscles.

Getting an idea, Sasuke grabbed Sakura around the waist, dragging her to him. "Sasuke-kun, what are you-?"

Ignoring her, Sasuke said, "Why would I do that? If she's my girlfriend then clearly I wouldn't want her to get molested by someone like you."

"Ey, you dunno who ya're dealing with here!" The boy responded, clumsily getting into a fighting stance.

"Neither do you," Sasuke smirked, eyes bleeding red.

Sakura stood slightly bewildered by Sasuke's side, wondering where this had suddenly come from. His girlfriend comment made her blush, but as she knew this was probably only a tactic to get the drunk boy away then she didn't want to read too much into it. Still, she couldn't help but wonder. Then, as she saw the drunk boy still preparing to take off against Sasuke, she sighed, knowing she should prevent that the boy ended up in hospital with too much injuries. She gently lifted Sasuke's arm off of her, walking forth and positioning herself in the middle between the two males.

"Finally figured out who's the best of us males, huh babe? Just leave your boyfriend already, I'll show you a good time honey, I'll-" before he got to finish his sentence Sakura punched him, sending him crashing into the wall of the club behind them.

"So you weren't going to ask me or anything, huh? Just doing with me as you liked because you're so 'good'? Spare me," Sakura spat, brushing off her knuckles in disgust. "And you, even though I love you that doesn't mean you can do whatever you want and make me play the damsel in distress again. I'm strong now, better-" She realized what she'd just admitted to again and blushed, looking away. "Just don't lie next time you want to try and protect me, okay? Leave such comments for the one you intend them for…" She continued to look away sadly.

"And what makes you think I don't mean it?" Sasuke replied, looking away too, though more out of nervousness and shyness. He hadn't actually intended to say such a comment, he guessed so much training with Naruto really had done weird things with him. But when he'd said it he needed to follow up so not as to mess stuff even more up between them. They were on a fairly okay level, but there was still some tension and uncertainty between them despite them talking things out between them. There was still things left to say, to talk about and to understand about each others reasons and actions, but it was good for now.

"W-what?" Sakura looked up, not expecting that answer. The Uchiha was still looking away, ears slowly reddening, but he kept his silence so Sakura had to draw the conclusion on her own. "S-Sasuke-kun, are you, is this some way of asking me out?" Sakura gazed at him uncertain, though hope blossoming in her chest.

Swallowing, he grunted, "Aa," glancing at her from the corner of his eye. Sakura started wide-eyed at him, cheeks flushing heavily as she stood there without a word. As Sasuke finally turned around, their gazes locked, both intently watching each other. Sasuke's gaze flicked for the smallest of moments to Sakura's lips, wondering if they would taste as sweet as her hair looked. And as both teens slowly neared each other, Sasuke gently cupped Sakura's face, she slightly leaning into his touch. Half-lidded eyes looked at each other in a love neither had thought they would experience from the other, and both savoured this, the sweetest of moments they could ever remember having experienced, their lips were about to touch-

"Just kiss already!" An impatient voice rang out, interrupting the pair from finally tasting each other's lips. And as if pulled out of a trance, they both jumped away from each other, both blushing furiously as they turned to find nothing less than the entire rest of Konoha 11 standing in the door behind them staring at them intently. Hinata looked apologetically, Ino was punching Naruto for "ruining her forehead's first step out of virginity", Rock Lee was crying about how "his cherry blossom's fair, pink lips of innocence had been claimed by another", Tenten was grinning, holding Lee together with the also grinning Kiba so Lee wouldn't try to do anything, Choji was munching on some chips as if he was in the theatres and Shino was oddly enough there too, standing off to the side, silent as always, probably wondering why he wasn't the one almost being kissed.

Then, as if they had been caught in something they shouldn't have been doing, which they had, their friends left, leaving Sasuke and Sakura alone. Well, almost alone, Naruto was still standing there, waggling his eyebrows before he was pulled away by Ino who then winked, saying, "Play nice you two, don't want to make Uchiha babies yet, alright?"

Sakura put her head in her hands, shaking it to try and relieve some embarrassment before shyly looking up again at Sasuke. He, though, could still feel the stares of their friends trying to peek through the door lock. Knowing they could not be alone if they stayed there, Sasuke took Sakura's hand, starting to lead her away from the small side road and the clubhouse.

"S-Sasuke-kun, where are we going?" Sakura asked flustered, eyes focused on their intervened hands.

"My place," he answered. "Unless you want to stay and have witnesses around us all night?" Sakura shook her head, still blushing a little. Sasuke smirked, taking off his jacket and covering her with it as he noticed the slight goose bumps on her shoulders. Startled Sakura looked up at Sasuke who was looking straight ahead, ears still red, and so Sakura firmer her hand around Sasuke's a little more, concluding that this night didn't turn out so bad after all.


End file.
